On Richard Sherman And The Definition Of A Thug N****

Without Richard Sherman and his WWF-esque promo/interview with Erin Andrews Sunday, we would have had nothing but Peyton Manning fluff pieces all week. Instead we get a break in the monotony, we have been treated to something more poignant, something more taboo but something that is also more refreshing.

Instead of long thorough investigations into what “Omaha” means when Peyton uses it during pre-snap reads, we get talented media members exhausting that same energy to touch on racial issues, and what our reactions to the interview say about society as a whole.

As he has done all week, Sherman kept the conversation going Wednesday at a press conference by stating that he believes people’s use of the word “thug,” a word that was bellowed on television Monday more times than any other day in the last three years, has more vitriol in it than people are letting on. Sherman admitted, “The only reason it bothers me is because it seems like it’s the accepted way of calling somebody the N-word nowadays.”

The worst part is Sherman’s right.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of a “thug” is a “violent criminal.” What did Sherman do in this “incident” that was violent or criminal? The connotation here is that a loud black man is a thug and therefore criminal, because that’s all Sherman was “guilty” of in that interview, being loud and black. This is where it becomes an epithet, and, while people are not literally saying the n-word, it carries the same vicious undertones.

It may be no coincidence that while fighting off the label as a thug, a theme his new Beats by Dre commercial is built upon, he mentioned the league in the “Big 4” that’s the least black, the NHL:

“Maybe I’m talking loudly and doing something I’m not supposed to. But I’m not … there was a hockey game where they didn’t even play hockey. They just threw the puck aside and started fighting. I saw that and said, ‘Oh, man. I’m the thug? What’s going on here?'”

Another word thrown around with venom at Sherman in the days since was the adjective “ignorant.” Again, the definition of ignorant is not loud or black; it’s uneducated or unsophisticated. The word’s usage carries another set of undertones and subliminal meanings that have people grouping it with other racial slurs Sherman was labeled like “ape” or “monkey.” In this line of thinking, a loud black man is stupid and unruly.

To combat his supposed ignorance, many have used his education and sophistication to Sherman’s defense, but even some of that defense feeds into the same unfortunate type of thinking, even if it’s well-intended. The people who rush to say, “no way he can be ignorant or a thug, he attended Stanford,” should step back for a second and analyze exactly what that stance means. If his status as a Stanford alumni liberates him from these labels, that also means that a person who fits into these stigmas, a loud black person, isn’t capable of attending and graduating from a prestigious university or carrying themselves in a socially acceptable manner.

It’s no surprise that sports is the arena that has ignited such intelligent discussion on racial issues and the language used to describe minorities. In no other section of our community are racial lines so often stubbornly and ignorantly drawn, despite, or maybe because of, the fact that so many of the athletes are minorities themselves. Boxers are promoted, stereotyped and even pitted against each other by race. We stereotype basketball players unflinchingly with white players described as heady and more likely to be rugged, crude hustlers on the court while black players are athletic, flashy dopes. Or how about how the biggest sport in this country has a rule where teams must interview at least one minority-coaching candidate because franchises would probably never hire one if we didn’t have this rule. The world of sports is full of racism, but here they don’t “be concealing it.”

If there’s a silver lining for all the racism going on here, it’s this: if raising awareness of these issues is the goal, and for many it is, there couldn’t be a better choice of a spokesperson than Richard Sherman. His now much publicized Cardinal-colored education includes his degree in communications, which will surely aid him as he carries the burden of awareness. This attention-snatching interview may not have been an accident.

As a communications student, Sherman surely knows the value of his words, and how beneficial an opportunity like this can be. So, too, do companies with stake in Sherman, as coincidentally Beats by Dre and Nike rolled out new advertising campaigns that prominently featured Sherman this week. He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and appeared on CNN, and in a week where Kevin Durant is going insane and Peyton Manning advanced to his third Super Bowl, he’s been the most talked about athlete in the country. If Sherman’s newly found popularity/infamy and visibility comes with some awareness and education on issues that clearly still exist, then I not only welcome it, but will continue to support it.

Richard Sherman isn’t a thug or ignorant, and thankfully he knows that.

“I know some ‘thugs,’ and they know I’m the furthest thing from a thug, I’ve fought that my whole life, just coming from where I’m coming from. Just because you hear Compton, you hear Watts, you hear cities like that, you just think, ‘thug, he’s a gangster, he’s this, that, and the other,’ and then you hear Stanford, and they’re like, ‘oh man, that doesn’t even make sense, that’s an oxymoron.’ You fight it for so long, and to have it come back up and people start to use it again, it’s really frustrating.”

“He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and appeared on CNN, and in a week where Kevin Durant is going insane and Peyton Manning advanced to his third Super Bowl, he’s been the most talked about athlete in the country.”

As a Niners fan I hate Sherman, but I completely agree he isn’t a thug. The interview annoyed me, because I just saw my team lose and Sherman is shit talking a player on the Niners. However, trash talk is part of the game it bothers me less now.

I saw the hockey game that Sherman was talking about. The line fight at the start of the game started, because the visiting team started the 4th line and the home team’s (Vancouver Canucks) coach thought they were putting out their goons to fight, so he countered with his 4th line, leading to the line fight. The 1st period in that game was full of fights and shoving matches and at the intermission after the 1st period the Canucks coach tried to storm the visiting teams locker room to fight their coach.

But still Sherman gets labeled as the Thug. Same goes for the perception of many colored athletes, since Kaepernick goes through the same thing, because of his tattoos and his attire. Same shit Iverson went through when he was playing.

I remember reading headlines on MSN/ESPN yesterday saying that “Sherman responds to claims of being a ‘thug'” And the first thing that popped into my head was, “This is still going on?”

As a 49er fan, that rant at the end of the game had me more in a “WTF just happened?” and laughing state than anger. I mean, the butthurt was there, but it was more about the game than anything. Sherman’s mouthy as hell and I really hate the Seahawks, but I would never in my life refer to anything that dude does as “thuggish.”

He’s got a big mouth and the skills to back that up and as a fan of a rival team I don’t like him, but I respect his ability as a player and even more so as a person. My wife’s a teacher, so him being a huge advocate for education is a great thing to see and him handing Skip Bayless his own ass on ESPN had me rolling when I first saw it.

This shit has gotten way over blown and it’s a shame that it probably won’t stop at the Super Bowl or even into next season. Although, due to saltyness, I’ll be rooting for the Broncos, Sherman’s getting shit entirely too much for this mess.

As a 49er fan and white apologist #1,403 I just want to say this shit is ridiculous and the dude deserves better than what the media will continue to drag him through.

Naw bruh. Richard wasn’t showing sportsmanship to Crabtree, he was being “Nice Nasty”. He ran Mike down after celebrating/doing his dance on that hoe, patted him quite aggressively on the ass, then reached out with the good game handshake? I’d mush his ass too.

That “good game” shit could have been done at the end of the game like the rest of the 105 players did. Richard knew exactly what he was doing and got the reaction he wanted.

So in conclusion, Richard Sherman is NOT a thug in any form of the word, but in that instance, we was guilty of being a supreme dick.

Both them cats need to grow up. We got guys getting paid like doctors “beefing”… And extra regular mfers feeding into it. In the grand scheme I was mad my team lost but I woke up the next morning with a job I had to work – my company doesn’t acknowledge MLK day.

agreed. I don’t think there was much of a backlash that existed after that day. Of course there were plenty of tweets calling him classless but after Sunday night I’ve seen 6 Huffington Post type articles for every 0 Fox News segment.

I actually thought this wasn’t a big deal until I saw a article on Sherman monday and read the comments. People seem to genuinely hate this dude n brand him negatively for being a loud black man for 15 seconds.

It’s like anything a well off black man does that can be construed to look negative gets blown fully outta proportion by the media, and the general public just eats it up. However, the same conduct from people in a similar status isn’t sweated.

It makes you think a lot of people still don’t really understand or care about us black folk.

I do not agree with his statement, in terms of the time a place in which he said it, he could have done it in a better way and not right after the heat of the moment when his emotions were running high.

He LOOKED crazy.

If you had put your TV on mute and watched it, you would have though he was cursing someone out, thoroughly lol

As entertainers, athletes, etc. they just want you to shut up and perform. Don’t be outspoken, don’t have an opinion, just shut up, make money for your brand (master) and smile while doing it.

Instances such as this show you how non “post racial” America is. As soon as a minority athlete/entertainer does ANYTHING deemed uncouth, the “Real America” shows its face. In Yahoo! article comments sections, on Twitter Timelines, Instagram memes etc.

I miss Pac, I imagine him & Pimp C telling everybody exactly how they feel, and all these other entertainers being unafraid to follow suit.

something i wanted to write about too but couldnt quite articulate just right. the black menacing brute and the white innocent beauty is another trope that has been used endlessly. its funny cuz erin was completely fine with everything and pictures surfaced of them hugging before the interview and they even did a follow up, which im sure will be hilarious.

BradyGod yells a ref face off and everything is cool, but Sherman shows some clout against a man he has history with and he’s a thug. And the argument that “He went to stanford, he should act like it” assumes that there’s a specific way of acting due to the school he went. Fuck em, get yo checks Sherman! He needs to pull a page straight from Deion Sanders.

It shocked me to see the footage last night on NFL Network’s ‘Total Access’ where he was mic’d up. He was far from the “deranged/aggressive/thug” everyone was assuming him to be (which led to the post game interview and all of its speculation).

Speaking of which… I no longer trust Erin Andrews (AT ALL) when it comes to her, Black men… and what she tells us, afterward. “Oh, I was TOTALLY, like, Valley Girl ‘totally,’ okay with it.”

50 was the warning.

These Black men better wise up and realize that either she, or FOX, have an agenda. Either they are stupid… or they are stupid.

Speaking of which… I no longer trust Erin Andrews (AT ALL) when it comes to her, Black men… and what she tells us, afterward. “Oh, I was TOTALLY, like, Valley Girl ‘totally,’ okay with it.”
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I think she low-key have a relationship (don’t know which type) with those dudes, but she can’t really have that homegirl/fwb with them because she would come off as a slut and the whole white woman-black man thing (it still is fox).

I feel like anybody that freaked out about this wasn’t so much reacting but more so expecting or waiting for this to happen. They look for reasons to label, blame, disrespect and disregard. Anyone calling him a thug already had it made up in their mind that he was this was just what they saw as proof.

The mic’d up audio is getting blown out of proportion. The WR vs. CB position battle is one of the most physical and trash talking any sport has (something I heard repeat earlier this week by Keyshawn Johnson and Marcellus Wiley). You can believe there’s bad blood between Crabs/Sherms. You can believe that there was shit talking the entire game and I’m sure nothing Goodell hasn’t already burned so no one ever gets their hands on.

To make a huge emotional play on someone that you were shit talking and dislike for not just a game, but for year(s) and give him a smack on the butt and put your hand out and say helluva game? lol you kidding me? No one else sees Sherman trolling Crabs in this instance?

The point is that snippet of audio did not give us full context. It’s also convenient that it was released in the manner that it was after pundits were calling Sherman “a thug”. Goodell doesn’t want his league to be seen as one full of thugs (as it’s been named in the past, most noticeably with all the arrests they average every offseason) so I’m sure he or NFL’s PR people planned this out accordingly.

Sherms is still the dude for his postgame piece with Erin Andrews and for all he’s saying since then. Love the ego and confidence he has and wish he jumps that Seattle ship the first chance he gets.

When NFL Network released the footage/audio, they made a disclaimer (more times than I can count) that it was edited – sort of for the same reason you touched upon. Each team, as well as the league, chose what… and what not to show. It was edited in a way to show the best footage/shine the best light on the league.

Of course the reporters/analysts/hosts and anchors cannot come out and state the true intent… they, after all, work for Roger Goodell… and he has no problem reassigning or firing those aforementioned who share opinions that differ (heavily) from what he is trying to accomplish. I watch them, watch their words, each day. He is on record stating that he did not like how Sherm presented himself in the interview with Erin. So he did damage control via what is the equivalent of propaganda.

Not that this is the first instance of the word thug being used (watch Fox News at like any time of day) to describe a black person, but it is shining a spotlight nationwide on an issue that really disgusts me. Racism in America has never gone away or even diminished, it just hid itself in different words.

This article is the reason for my screen name. Its all about perception.

As soon as Hillbilly Bob and Redneck Mike got a hold of this it was over. How many “banned” words did Sherman drop? Who did he put his hands on? Who was scared??

I know nobody will remember this but Doug Baldwin was calling out Keyshawn and Cris Carter after the game on the field on TV on some see me in the streets tone and they had to bleep him out. Lost in the archives I guess.

Sherman is from Compton with the dreads and darker skin tone though.

The only reason this is a big deal is because Erin Andrews (through no fault of her own obviously) is a white woman.

What if that was Mike Tirico or Pam Oliver?? I promise you we would be talking about Peyton Manning. The story would have had one day and been forgotten about.